Clarke on the homicide reduction model: "This is how politicians attack problems, right? A commission, a task force, a blue ribbon committee, whatever," Clarke says. "It's OK to try these different things; I'm all for trying new initiatives. But after a certain point ... this thing started in '05, so we're coming on year seven or eight. Is this thing producing anything of value any more?"

That sort of position, taken in the media, would likely come as no surprise to Milwaukee Shepherd Express writer Joel McNally, who offers this description in a scathing column about Clarke's opposition to a new sentencing reform program:

Clarke is welcomed with open arms and microphone by right-wing talk-show host Charlie Sykes whenever the sheriff wants to denounce black political leaders, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, judges or the district attorney, to the delight of Charlie's conservative white listeners.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel carries almost daily stories on whatever Clarke thinks about people controlling his budget or successful criminal justice reforms he despises.

But, of course, reality never bears much relationship to right-wing rhetoric, white or black.

A prime example occurred at a black conservative forum in Washington, D.C., at which Clarke declared of Milwaukee: “It's a city that has forever been in the throes, if you will, the brace of liberal orthodoxy. And I've been a man alone—a man alone, trumpeting conservative values.”